Draw in Your Agenda

I specifically purchased an agenda

that had an extra page for notes

each week, just so I could have

space to draw or collage!

After our son's family had returned home

from their summer visit, I had a little fun

remembering one day's 'serve yourself

whatever's in the fridge' breakfast.

(Drawings in a Mead calendar/agenda.)

Yes, macaroni and cheese, pie, or biscuits

 and bacon for  breakfast.  At about 8:30 a.m.

my granddaughter said, "Gram, can we make

cookies? The kind you roll out & use cookie

cutters?"  ah...ok.  I knew they were 

leaving after lunch to go to their other

grandparents house, but we squeezed it in!

Since I am the only one in the house

who drinks coffee, my coffee maker

is a small one~it only makes 4 cups.

My son was not impressed...

Sometimes you just have to record

a scrap of the day so you won't forget

it...like summer visits from your grandchildren, or

quotes from a book you're reading.

Linking up with Bleubeard and Elizabeth

for T Tuesday.  Stop by for a visit, and

join in with anything 'beverage related.'

I am sharing the beautiful card and

ATC I received from Carol in Elizabeth's

T Tuesday 2nd Anniversary Swap...

The ATC is a wintry scene to

cool me off in the summer heat,

and the tag she also sent is delightful.

The stenciled envelope is gorgeous!

Thank you Carol!

Did you have anything unusual for

breakfast today?

We Make Things. It is Fun.

Week 28 of the Documented Life Project 2015:

Time keeps on ticking...

I made some color copies of a journal page

I had painted of vintage bottles, cut them out

and glued onto this new page. In this

newer incarnation, I included

a Jim Croce song lyric.

Other painted papers, graph paper, and

 origami papers are also part of the collage.

For the second half of the Week 28 spread I used

some vintage illustrations from an old health textbook.

I love that this elementary school

 textbook presented arts and crafts 

as part of a balanced,

 healthy development - 

along with brushing your teeth! 

Watercolor and assorted papers 

and pen drawing complete the collage.

Week 39, "At this Moment..."

another collage with my own drawing of

a flower and clouds, painted papers, and stamping.

The bird image is a commercial rubber stamp,

and the leaf image is a stamp that I carved.

Enjoy Summer Fun...an Artist Trading Card

that I made earlier in the summer, just seemed

to fit here in this collage. It is taped hinge-style

on one side. Beneath the atc reads

"enjoy the now."

And I hope you are enjoying 

the now! Whether it's quiet moments

with friends and family, or exciting

new adventures!

Linking up with 

Art Journal Every Day

over at Balzer Designs, and

Art Journal Journey.

What Do You Put in Your Art Journal?

Artist Trading Card for T-Tuesday swap,
 sent to Julia Dunnit.

"What types of things do you put in your art journal?"  The question came from a non-artsy person in a business environment.  The question was unexpected, and I wasn't very articulate in my answer.  I am one of those folks who seems to think of what I should have said--days later!

I stumbled over my words and didn't express myself very well...I suppose I was trying to relate my answer to the business discussion at hand.  But the real answer is that I:

• Draw
• Paint
• Doodle
• Collage
• Take notes
• Jot down quotes
• Paste stuff in
• Whatever makes me Happy!

Art makes me happy, so I try to do a little every day. It's a stress-reliever.  It's therapeutic.  And it can be made from just about anything, in just about any way that you can think of!

There are many on-line resources for art journal prompts. I am in the second year of The Documented Life Project. (The Journal~2015) The two pages with the theme 'roads' (above) are from my DLP 2015 journal. But you don't have to use prompts...

If you aren't confident in your drawing skills, then what?

First, I think you can become more proficient if you practice! But you can also use lots of items to create collages that make you happy.  I especially like quirky, but whatever you like will make it uniquely yours.  Make use of YouTube and the many blogs that have great tutorials.

Some of my favorite materials to use in collage: assorted papers, fabric, brown paper bag, stamping, diagrams from old books, security envelope designs, stitching, vintage illustrations and ads.

Not everyone understands the concept of making art 'just for fun.'  So if you aren't comfortable about sharing your art with those friends and family members who 'don't get it,'  well, you don't have to.  Fortunately, there are many supportive artists and bloggers who do 'get it,' and are willing to share their work, process, insights and encouragement!

So if you're looking for some fun with art, some time for yourself, and some inspiration...grab a beverage and join Elizabeth and Bleubeard for T~Tuesday!  If you want to join the blog hop, include something beverage-related in your post.  There's always time for tea...and Art!

Journaling and Scrapbook Prep

A little collage, a little watercolor,

not very many words added to

my journals this week...

above, a collage made from scraps

of my painted and doodled papers.

It's mostly just about the

happy color.

I changed the look of my blog this 

week.  It has had a black background

with white lettering since I started

blogging in 2008.  The beige 

background is a big change. 

I really loved the contrast

of my work against black, but I'm 

told it's not a great background for

visibility.  I hope this works out,

because I don't think I know how

to change it back!

Above, a watercolor and

Sharpie pen. The idea was to

create decorations for a wedding

album, but I think this may be too

large.  ( It's about 7 in. x 7 in.)

The heavy black outline

is to give myself a bit of

"wiggle room" when I cut this out

for the scrapbook page. If the

scrapbook owner likes it, there

will be more to come. Or maybe

I will make a color copy and

 reduce it in size...

Linking to Art Journal Every Day over

at Balzer Designs. It's always fun

to see what others are putting 

in their journals!

Art Journal Pages: Drawing my Food

Everyone draws their food when they go 

to a restaurant, don't they?!  One of the

waitresses came over to see what I was 

working on, but I had barely started drawing

my red water glass.  I think she remembered

me from when I drew the turtle planter in 

their restaurant...

The table top presented difficulties.  It was

a carved surface with glass over it.  Glass is

always a challenge, with shadows, reflections,

and whatever is sitting on it...hopefully you

get the idea.  I really could have eaten that

whole basket of chips by myself!

Drawing in Sharpie pen, with watercolor

pencil and water applied after I returned home.

More pages in the 

"On Again~Off Again Journal...

I take along my art bag when we are taking

a road trip.  Hubby drives, and I happily 

paste scraps of paper and doodles into

whatever journal happens to fit into the

stuffed bag.  My watercolor pencils, water brush,

and Sharpie pen are necessities,

and a few highlighter markers wouldn't

go amiss either. They can brighten up

a page considerably!

Above, the atc I sent to Elizabeth,

made from some of my doodle-painted

paper, and a little tea cup that I drew

and glued onto the background.

It felt good to make some mini~art!

You may have noticed that I added a 

new page to this blog for Tutorials.

  To go to the Tutorials page, 

click on the tea cup at the top

of the side bar on the right.

There are only a few tutorials so far, but I 

hope to add more. Stay tuned!

Linking up for the T Tuesday

blog hop over at 

Bleubeard and Elizabeth's.

There's always time for tea!

Tutorial for Collage

How do you create a collage?

There is more than one way to

approach any art process...

but here I will share one of

the ways that I create collage

in my visual art journals.

1.) Apply watercolor to the page. Notice that for this particular background I did not blend the colors into one another, but left 'hard edges', (not blended) or even a little white space between colors.

2.) Collect/choose an assortment of papers and images that could be used in the collage. I usually use the background colors as a guideline.  Above: ledger paper, graph paper, stamped cardstock, my drawings with watercolor on cardstock, vintage game piece images, fabric, scrapbook paper, and a random ticket. Not all of them will end up in the final collage. Part of the fun for me is sorting through what I have on hand.

The possibilities for use of ephemera are pretty much endless!  From junk mail to vintage photos, the images you choose to use in your work will give the collage its own unique quality.

3.)  Arrange your chosen collage elements on the background.  This will take some trial and error. Move around the shapes and images, until satisfied with the arrangement.

Once I chose the bee image, that suggested the leaves and the flower. "Tea with honey" and the little tea cup drawing were chosen to go along with the T Tuesday theme over at The Altered Book Lover Blog. 

Various printed papers, like the ledger and graph paper give additional texture and color to the composition. I also like lined yellow or white writing paper. I've included a scrap of tissue-box-cardboard (blue behind the flower) and my own painted and drawn doodles. The British stamp was chosen simply for color and shape. Color is usually the dominant factor that helps me choose the collage elements.

4.) Add lines in pen to the background.  This helps unify the collage elements with the background.  (At this point, other mediums could also be added: pencil, pastel, acrylic paints, etc.  I chose to keep the number of layers to a minimum)

The overall flow of the shapes, spaces, lines and color should keep your eye moving over the surface of the collage. With collage, if something isn't quite working, you can remove it and replace it with something else, or just cover it up with paint or another piece of paper.

Here's a diagram of the shapes I've chosen and how the basic layout forms somewhat of an oval to guide your eye through the collage...

Since we read from left to right, our eye tends to also read the composition of an art work in the same way.  I keep that in mind and try to make an 'easy entry' point in the upper left hand corner of the work.  Of course, Eastern art and writing don't read from left to right, so it all depends on how you choose to work.  As we often are reminded, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' in art.

Linking up with 

Bleubeard and Elizabeth

for the T Tuesday link-up party.

All you have to do is include

a reference to a beverage to

join in.  Tea is good, but I am

a coffee lover too! Share a photo,

poem, art work, recipe or anything 

beverage related.  Maybe even

a tutorial?!

Enjoy your tea with honey...

and enjoy some art

with collage.

Coffee and Collage on T Tuesday~2015

After some digital 'digging', I think I've found

my first T Tuesday post...you can see it here.

It seemed appropriate to re-post this since

Elizabeth and Bleubeard are celebrating

the second anniversary of T Tuesday.

All you have to do is post something

drink-related and link up at the

Altered Book Lover Blog.

I have done a number of tea cups

and collages posted on Tuesdays, and

 thought it might be fun to revisit 

a few of them...

sometimes there is part of a tea bag...

and sometimes just a cup.

But there is always a friendly

visit with other bloggers.

My visitors will usually find some

art to go with your morning beverage,

or maybe even some stitching.

Visit Elizabeth's blog here

to join in.  There's even a

swap of ATC's to celebrate

the anniversary, so stop by!

♦ ♥ ♦

Green Tea Tuesday

I've mentioned before that

I tend to have several 

art journals in progress

at one time...

but when I come across

a journal that hasn't had 

an entry for three years,

and still isn't completed...

 I decided it's time to remedy the 

situation.  The first entry in

this journal is from 2006! 

The most recent drawings were 

dated 2012. So I've dubbed this journal 

"The On Again ~Off Again" journal...

there are several stops and

starts with gaps of a year or two

in between.  It is interesting to see

the changes/similarities in my work.

There are only about twelve more

'spreads' left to finish the pages, so

I've decided this little journal is 

'next up' to be completed.

I wonder if perhaps I've had

 too many "irons in the fire" at once?

Linking up with Elizabeth's

T Tuesday blog party, with

another wobbly tea cup drawing,

and a bit of collage. This green tea

with pomegranate, raspberry and

strawberry is quite enjoyable, and

of course colorful packaging is 

also a plus for collage fodder! 

Elizabeth's Tea Tuesday link party

will celebrate its second anniversary

next week, so do join us for

tea...

•  ♦  •